noleboy Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I just joined up with the site last week and tried to find my first cache this weekend with my old Garmin GPS12. It's just your basic, old GPS. Used to work great getting me to and from deer stands and such, but failed miserably Saturday while trying to find a cache. Just wondering if anyone else might be stuck in the Stone Age too and had any hints...or if I'm better off just updating to newer equipment. Quote Link to comment
+maurycy Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Older GPSr units can lose signal under tree cover. They are also slow in acquiring signal but if you are patient enough, they should be OK for geocaching. The truth is, that you really only need the arrow pointing you in right direction. Did you try to find only one cache? It is possible that either this cache was hard to find or simply muggled. Pick an easy cache and give your GPSr another try. If that fails, then just upgrade to a newer unit (make sure you get high sensitivity receiver). Quote Link to comment
noleboy Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Thanks for the feeback Maury. I only tried one cache this weekend due to lack of time, and it was in a fairly heavy tree cover area, though in the past I haven't had much problem. I had a good signal lock (within 13 ft accuracy) it said, but I guess due to the tree cover, it would "skip" sometimes and not keep track of my location. I'm going to try for a more open cache or 2 this weekend and see how that goes. Also, though my TOMTOM allowed me to key in the coordinates to get to the general area, I don't think it'd guide me to the precise location. Does anyone use an auto TOMTOM? Thanks for the help. I'm clearly a newbie in need! Quote Link to comment
Team Sidewinder Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I used a Garmin 12XL for many of my first caches and It worked great. The 12XL is the same gps as the 12 but has a option of using an external antenna which I never used. It didn't have as great as sat. reception as the newer ones but still got the job done. Make sure you are in the same map datum as geocaching.com uses ( WGS 84 ). Just a thought. team sidewinder Quote Link to comment
noleboy Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 I used a Garmin 12XL for many of my first caches and It worked great. The 12XL is the same gps as the 12 but has a option of using an external antenna which I never used. It didn't have as great as sat. reception as the newer ones but still got the job done. Make sure you are in the same map datum as geocaching.com uses ( WGS 84 ). Just a thought. team sidewinder Thanks. Checked an I am on WGS84. I'm going to try for another cache in the next day or so and see how that goes. Quote Link to comment
+maurycy Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Make sure, you check the logs. Past entries with :-( faces will most likely indicate missing cache. Quote Link to comment
+lil'hobo Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 I just joined up with the site last week and tried to find my first cache this weekend with my old Garmin GPS12. It's just your basic, old GPS. Used to work great getting me to and from deer stands and such, but failed miserably Saturday while trying to find a cache. Just wondering if anyone else might be stuck in the Stone Age too and had any hints...or if I'm better off just updating to newer equipment. I too use a Garmin GPS 12, and it works nice for me. While it does tend to lose some signal quality while under heavier tree cover, it gets me right to the cache (at least so far). The trick I found is that the guided "Goto" arrow screen will get you in the general area, however, not as close as you could be. To counter that I switch over the screen that has your actual postion, lat long etc, and the use those readings to get to the closest possible area to the caches coords. It will get you quite abit closer that just the guided screen. Well, that's my two cents, hope it helps and good luck caching! Quote Link to comment
+jem707 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I had a good signal lock (within 13 ft accuracy) it said, hey folks, i just started recently, myself with an old gps 12. mine indicates distance by the 1/100th mile. i'm curious, noleboy, about how you get a signal lock reading and accuracy in feet. are ther settings i can check or change to get better readings? i'm biding time till i can get a newer model but i'd like to get the most out of this one as i can in the meantime. rick Quote Link to comment
JPGoody Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 The trick I found is that the guided "Goto" arrow screen will get you in the general area, however, not as close as you could be. To counter that I switch over the screen that has your actual postion, lat long etc, and the use those readings to get to the closest possible area to the caches coords. It will get you quite abit closer that just the guided screen. Well, that's my two cents, hope it helps and good luck caching! Good tip hobo, this is what I had my middle school students do to find greater success. I'll remember to do this too next time I'm searching every tree stump in a 50 ft radius Quote Link to comment
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